Oystrick backhands it high and out of the zone.

Timeout Lev, they don't want this to be as scary as last night and want to know their defensive assignments.

Icing Lev.

Ellison with a shot through a crowd, hits a body in front, puck cleared.

Repik with a shot along the ice, stick save Brust.

Long slapper from Ryan, caught by Vehanen and played.

Medvescak trying to forecheck, Lev keeping them to the outside in their zone, then they clear it . . .

Offside Lev.

Big hit by Cheechoo on Sevc behind the net.

Puck deflected out of play in the neutral zone, faceoff outside the Medvescak line.

Offside Medvescak.

Icing Lev.

One-time slapper from Ondrej Nemec and a nice glove save by Barry Brust with exactly 1:00 left in the penalty.

Nemec must be a tired man, he's been one of the leading ice getters in these two games and became a father early this morning, so I doubt he's had any sleep since game 1.

Icing Medvescak.

Now play is stopped as we have an injured Medvescak player down, Ivan Svarny, who might have taken a shot on the leg somewhere. He's tended to by training staff and able to skate off on his own. Faceoff in the Medvescak zone.

Now the puck goes out of play in the Medvescak zone, faceoff inside.

Puck deflected out of play in the Lev zone, faceoff inside.

A bit of an adventure for Barry Brust playing the puck in the corner, stick-checked by Sekac but he recovers and gets back into the net before Lev gets into shooting position.

Play is stopped as the Lev net is dislodged, faceoff inside.

Offside Medvescak on the shoot-in, faceoff at centre ice, they are now back at full strength.

Oystrick with a one-timer off the glass.

Now Azevedo tries to go up stairs but it hits Brust in the shoulder and goes out of play. Faceoff inside.

Medvescak ice it and that should do it for the penalty.

Oystrick walks in from the point and fires a wrister, caught by Brust and he plays it.

Icing Lev, 1:34 left in the power play.

Maenpaa's shot from the point is deflected in front, pad save Brust.

During the TV timeout, Nathan Oystrick and Mike Glumac trying to get at each other with the linesmen trying hard to keep them separated.

Huge hit by Cheechoo into the boards, now we've got a penalty coming to Lev it seems and Oystrick mixes it up with Jessiman. We'll see what the call is.

Lev back at full strength but Medvescak maintain possession in their zone.

Cheechoo shoots through a crowd, not sure if it got through to Vehanen or was blocked in front.

Icing Medvescak.

Sekac being worked over down low as he shields the puck goes back to the point to Thornberg for the wrister, caught and held by Brust.

Lev with 3 shots on that sequence, 2 by Vrana and 1 by Thornberg, who broke his stick on the play. Brust covers finally.

Glumac tries to go low far side with the wrister, kicked out by Vehanen.

Offside called against Medvescak as Svarny shoots. Wouldn't have counted if it had gone in.

Slapper from Azevedo deflected wide.

Icing Lev.

Hand pass called against Lev, faceoff in their own zone.

Luke Walker with a backhander from the left wing, pad save Vehanen.

Quickly back the other way, Thornberg with a wrister, pad save Brust.

Kurtis Foster with a slapper from the point, stopped by Vehanen.

Offside Lev.

Cingel with a big hit on Foster into the boards in the neutral zone, then Lev is offside.

Icing Medvescak.

Martinovic from the point, off the blocker of Vehanen and out of play. It looked like it was headed wide anyway. Faceoff in the Lev zone.

Medvescak back at full strength, Maenpaa from the point, stick save Brust and he covers. Both teams now 0/2 on the power play.

Nemec from the point, right on Brust, who covers with :14 left in the penalty.

A Medvescak clearing attempt goes out of play right off the draw, so they get a faceoff in their zone with :32 left in the penalty.

Offside Lev.

Martinovic with a couple of attempts, first one blocked, second one goes wide.

Offside Medvescak with 1:46 left n the power play.

Charles Linglet with a slapper on the rush, right on Vehanen, who holds on. Linglet and Ryan O'Byrne exchange hacks after the whistle but nothing comes of it. We can expect plenty of stuff after the whistles today, just like yesterday and last Sunday.

Icing Lev.

Medvescak back at full strength, Maenpaa's shot is blocked and Medvescak start up ice.

Thornberg tries to go short side with a wrister but Brust makes a blocker save and they ice it again.

Sevc with a blast from the point, just wide and then Medvescak ice it.

Lev good on the kill so far, not giving up a shot, they ice it for the second time.

Michal Repik with a burst of speed, beats a couple of Medvescak defenders and fires a backhander just wide.

Icing Lev.

Offside Lev.

Now Matai with a wrister, right on Brust, who holds on.

The book on Barry Brust is he's the more aggressive of the two Zagreb keepers, and that's apparent early on, as he comes out of his net to play the puck often.

Nakladal attempts a shot, blocked just in front of brust.

Lev rush, Kapanen to Repik, right on pad save Brust.

Thornberg with a long wrister, Brust gets a blocker on it and directs it to the corner.

Loose puck in the Lev goalmouth area but Walker can't get his stick free to get a shot.

Ivan Svarny with a slapper, right on Vehanen, who holds on.

Off the draw Lev get another shot, Nathan Oystrick from the point, pad save Brust.

Lev then go down the ice and get a shot on Barry Brust, who makes his first save of the series and covers.

Puck hits the skate of the referee and goes to Medvescak's Mike Ryan, who gets the game's first shot, kicked out by Petri Vehanen.

The national anthems of Croatia and the Czech Republic are complete, and the opening faceoff is moments away.

Lev Praha are wearing their home red uniforms with blue and white trim, red NY Rangers-style pants and blue helmets. Medvescak Zagreb are wearing their road white uniforms with navy blue trim, navy blue pants and white helmets.

Starting Lineups:

Lev Praha: Vehanen (Engren) – Ševc, Mäenpää, Oystrick, Němec, Jaakola, O'Byrne, Nakládal, Gragnani – Ullström, Novotný, Azevedo – Sekáč, Vrána, Thörnberg – Zackrisson, Kapanen, Řepík – Ridderwall, Cingel, Matai.

Medveščak Zagreb: Brust (Dekanich) – Popović, Martinović, Švarný, Foster, Klubertanz, Katić, O'Connor – Thomas, Ryan, Cheechoo – Linglet, Vesce, Ellison – Walker, Jessimen, Glumac – Kane, Murray, Björkstrand – Nyström.

Referees: Soin, Bulanov. Linesmen: Sadovnikov, Zakharenkov.

In game one, HC LEV Praha got off to a quick start, scoring 39 seconds in and leading 2-1 after one period. They carried the play thanks to three power plays. In the second period, it was Medveščak Zagreb that held the edge, getting a lot of power play time and tying the game on a four-on-three. Then the Lions scored twice quickly in the third period to open a two goal lead before the Bears came back with a big push late, scoring once and coming very close to equalising in the last minute.

"I really liked today´s game," said Lev coach Kari Jalonen. "Of course I´m happy that we won and we lead the series. I am not completely satisfied with the second period, though, in which we took a lot of penalties and gave up a power-play goal."

Ineed, the second period was when Medveščak had three straight power plays, scoring on one of them and outshooting Lev 11-6. It´s the part of the game the visitors seemed happiest with as well. If not for a bad start to the third period, things might have turned out differently.

"In the second period we got the momentum and things were starting to turn in our favor, but the last period we didn´t play the way we wanted," defenceman Hugh Jessimen said on the Medveščak team website. "I liked our grit and the fact that we were able to get back into the game despite being down. The series has just begun and we have an opportunity to tie it. In the second game we have to play all 60 minutes the way we did in the second period, and I hope that we return to Zagreb tied 1-1."

"We had a lot of bad beginnings to periods," agreed coach Mark French. "But mostly, I regret letting the opponent dictate the tempo of the game. Near the end we scored the third goal and had chances to tie it. Unfortunately, we weren´t able to."

Overall, the game was pretty even with the final shot totals finishing 32-32. Despite Lev showing at times that they have more skill, Medveščak seems determined to neutralise that with hard work and the Lions know that skill isn´t enough -- they´ll have to outwork their opponents to win this series.

"The playoffs aren´t about skill. They´re about hard work and grinding," said Justin Azevedo, one of the most skilled players in this series. He had a goal and an assist in game one, plus hit a goalpost and a crossbar. "You´re going to get the odd nice goal, but most of your goals are going to be bang-bang plays in front of the net. No, we´re definitely not trying to make this series about skill."

Looking ahead to game two, he said: "I think it´ll be a similar game -- a real battle. It´s not going to be easy for us or them. We´re going to have to come out strong again and play as a team and play hard."

With the quick turnaround, there could be some roster changes on both teams to get some fresh legs in action. As for goaltenders, Petri Vehanen has been Lev´s go-to guy all season long and he showed why in the last minute of game one, when he made several big stops to preserve the win. As for Medveščak, Mark Dekanich started game one but they´ve gone with the two-goalie system all year, so it wouldn´t be a surprise if Barry Brust gets the call in game two.

Welcome. Game 2 of this Western Conference quarterfinal series starts at 17:00 CET local time in Prague and Zagreb, 11:00 EST.